Obama to GOP on immigration: 'Take a closer look at the polls'

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Protesters chained together block the entrance of an immigrant detention center in Elizabeth, N.J., during International Human Rights Day. (John Moore / Getty Images)

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visit with individuals taking part in Fast for Families on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

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Eliseo Medina, who fasted in support of immigration reform with the Fast for Families movement, talks with fellow fasters on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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Lizardo Buleje of San Antonio stands in front of the Capitol during a rally on immigration reform on Capitol Hill. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

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President Obama stops and turns around to respond to an unidentified man who heckled him about anti-deportation policies in San Francisco. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

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Officials try to remove a protester locked to a gate at the regional Immigration and Customs Enforcement office during an immigration protest in Atlanta. (Erik S. Lesser / EPA)

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An activist shouts slogans in front of a regional Immigration and Customs Enforcement office during an immigration protest and rally in Atlanta. (Erik S. Lesser / EPA)

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Student Jonathan Hernandez, center, marches in an immigration rights rally on the University of Texas campus in Austin. (Jay Janner / Associated Press)

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Eight “Dreamers,” wearing their school graduation caps and gowns to show their desire to finish school in the U.S., march with linked arms to the U.S. port of entry where they planned to request humanitarian parole, in Nogales, Mexico. (Samantha Sais / Associated Press)

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A man listens to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) speak during the D.C. March for Jobs in Upper Senate Park near Capitol Hill in Washington. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) embraces Astrid Silva of Las Vegas, a Dream Act supporter whose family came to the U.S. from Mexico illegally and whose story has been an inspiration for Reid during work on the immigration reform bill. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), left, and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), members of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” who crafted the immigration bill, shake hands on Capitol Hill in Washington. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

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Mercedes Montano, an immigrant from Mexico living in U.S. without legal status, prays during a 24-hour vigil outside the Civil Center in downtown Los Angeles. Demonstrators called on Congress to pass immigration reform. (Susannah Kay / Los Angeles Times)

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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), from left, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) discuss negotiations with Republicans during a markup session for the immigration reform legislation on Capitol Hill. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Wearing a shirt that reads “Keep Families Together,” 2-year-old U.S. citizen Eric Lopez runs through the hallway outside the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup session for the immigration reform legislation. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) talks with one of his staff members during a markup session for the immigration reform legislation. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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A program and flag sit from a U.S. naturalization ceremony in New York City. (John Moore / Getty Images)

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Immigrants take the oath of U.S. citizenship at a naturalization ceremony held at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in New York City. (John Moore / Getty Images)

By Christi Parsons and Brian Bennett

Oct. 24, 2013 8:39 AM PT

President Obama on Thursday launched a new effort to pass immigration reform by the end of the year, urging House Republicans to “take a closer look at the polls” and pass the languishing Senate measure.

Speaking to a crowd at the White House, Obama offered GOP lawmakers a little unsolicited advice.

“Good policy is good politics in this instance,” Obama said. Those who are resistant should “take a closer look at the polls.”

The White House is hoping that Obama’s recent political victory in the government shutdown and the poor approval ratings for Republicans will inspire House leaders to finally take up the reform bill passed by the Senate.

But while Obama argues Republicans have strategic reasons now to work on immigration, GOP lawmakers are showing little inclination to collaborate with the White House and Senate Democrats who took such a hard line in the budget standoff.

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But some House Republicans have been working in small groups for several months to craft a series of narrow bills that would reform parts of the immigration system, in part by streamlining ways that immigrants who entered illegally could get right with law.

“I’m hopeful,” House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday when asked if the House can take up immigration before the end of the year. “I still think immigration reform is an important subject that needs to be addressed,” he said.

Still, Boehner has said he would not bring the Senate immigration bill that passed in June up for a vote in the House.

Aides to Obama say he hopes to change Boehner’s mind.

But Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said after Obama spoke that the House will not consider any “massive, Obamacare-style legislation that no one understands. Instead, the House is committed to a common-sense, step-by-step approach that gives Americans confidence that reform is done the right way. We hope that the president will work with us – not against us – as we pursue this deliberate approach.”

Speaking to religious, labor and business leaders at the White House, Obama argued that the time is right to resurrect the comprehensive reform measure.

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“This is the moment when we should finally be able to get the job done,” he said as 150 White House staffers and reform activists cheered.

Even with the shutdown over, Obama said, Democrats and Republicans still have disagreements about how to proceed on a number off issues.

But on immigration, he argued, their interests align.

“It’s good for our economy,” he said. “It’s good for our people ... This isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.”

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christi.parsons@latimes.com

Twitter: @cparsons

Brian.Bennett@LATimes.com

Twitter: @ByBrianBennett